Major Compliment...I Think

Someone just walked past me and said, "Oh April, you always look like your name."

Huh?

She then continued, "You always look like a fresh breath of spring."

Um, thank you, I think. In 28 years, that's one I've never heard!

The English Language

Today I was doing a bit of internet research and I came across the following. I love words, reading, and learning, and sometimes I forget how confusing the English language can be. I thought this was pretty amusing, so I wanted to share.

WORDS TO CONFOUND THOSE TRYING TO LEARN OUR LANGUAGE!

1. We polish the Polish furniture.
2. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
3. A farm can produce produce.
4. The dump was so full it had to refuse refuse.
5. The soldier decided to desert in the desert.
6. The present is a good time to present the present.
7. At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
8. The dove dove into the bushes.
9. I did not object to the object.
10. The insurance for the invalid was invalid.
11. The bandage was wound around the wound.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. They sent a sewer down to stitch the tear in the sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow how to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
19. I shed a tear when I saw the tear in my clothes.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can i intimate this to my most intimate friends?
22. I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.

Source: Father Terry Fulton’s website, http://www.frterryfulton.org/Thoughts/thoughts.htm

Likes and dislikes

NOTE - I edited my last statement regarding what I don't like about pregnancy...because I realized it sounded harsher than I meant it to.

Things I like about being pregnant (so far):

• Being pregnant in general.
  
• Getting to experience being pregnant myself instead of listening to others talk about it.
  
• Knowing that at the end of pregnancy, there’ll be a cute baby.
  
• Knowing that if I overindulge every once in awhile, it’s okay…the baby needs nutrition!
  
• If I’m not feeling well, my husband takes very good care of me.
  
• During the first 10 weeks, knowing that I had my own little secret.
  
• That I’m not barfing (although feeling queasy is no picnic).
  

Things I don’t like about being pregnant (so far):

• Having headaches and not being able to take anything (those of you who know me know I used to have headaches every day, and quite often didn’t take anything…but knowing that I CAN’T take anything somehow makes the headache worse).
  
• Feeling tired ALL THE TIME.
  
• Feeling occasionally queasy and quite often bloated.
  
• That my digestive tract has slowed, and I quite often feel sick after eating.
  
• My pants already feel snug, and the waist digs into my stomach when I sit.
  
• People constantly asking me how I feel and/or offering unsolicited advice*.

*This last bullet refers not to friends and family who actually care about how I feel, but about those people (be they coworkers, strangers, acquaintances) who use "How are you feeling?" as a conversation starter, when really we have nothing to say to each other.

Give me your recipes, please!

Lately I’ve been really bad about making dinner and lunches to bring to work. I get home and I’m so tired that all I want to do is eat a bowl of cereal and sit on the couch. However, my health and my wallet are begging me to get back in the groove and start using all the food that’s going to waste in my fridge.

I’m going to write a post soon about meal planning, but for right now, I actually have a question for all of you. What are your staple meals? What meals make it into your weekly rotation every week, or perhaps are your standby meal for when you just don’t know what else to make. Mine is spaghetti, but I also have tuna noodle casserole and chili. My mom used to always rotate wok chicken, chicken tacos, chili, pork chops, etc.

I’m trying to build my cache of recipes and I want to know what your tried and true recipes are. Maybe it’s something you found, or maybe it’s a recipe that’s been in your family for 50 years. If they’re short, post them in the comments section; if not, email me here.

If you send them to me and I end up making it a regular in my rotation, it could end up in the family cookbook I’m making.

Book Review - Twilight Series

Let me start by warning those of you out there who haven’t read the Twilight books that you shouldn’t read this post. Of course you’re welcome to, but I spoil many things, and I share my opinion of the series with you.

I've never felt compelled to write a book review before, but after reading these four books, I had to share my thoughts.

I hate the Twilight series.

Okay, two of the books were really okay reads. But the other two, I'm not even sure what happened because I was thinking about how much I hate the main character the entire time I read them. I was also thinking that the books are not quite appropriate for the intended audience (I'm sure teen and preteen girls). Why, you ask? Well sure, the author doesn't come right out and say she thinks you shouldn't have sex before you're married (a good message, although not really realistic anymore), but it's clearly implied. Contrasting this implied message is the fact that Edward spends EVERY NIGHT in Bella's bed - what kind of a message is that!? "Sure honey, you shouldn't have sex before you're married, but it's okay to sneak your much older boyfriend into the house every night while I'm asleep and sleep in the same bed with him, as long as there's a blanket in between you." Yes, Bella does turn 18 in one of the books, but she's 17 for a lot of the time, and again, I dont' think that's an appropriate message to send to the intended (or unintended but popular) audience for these books. If as an author you're trying to send the message that abstinence before marriage is the way to go, sneaking your boyfriend in at night doesn't really support that message. No guy in the world is as strong willed as Edward.

Having said that, let’s continue. During the past week I read the Twilight series: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. I’d had a borrowed copy of Twilight for over a year, and had just never gotten into reading it. Finally, I was out of other books, and so I started it. I was actually quite addicted to the first book – while it was an easy read, it held my interest all the way through. I was so excited to move on to the second book that I purchased it, rather than waiting for my friend to lend me her copy (that was a mistake, now I’m stuck with a crappy book). I borrowed the last two books from my friend, and had a really hard time finishing them. Let’s look at each book individually.

I enjoyed two of the books, and absolutely hated the other two. Twilight was one of the books I liked – it introduced the characters, the setting, and had some action in it towards the end. However, I can see that this book would make a horrible movie, because although there’s action towards the end, that’s it…not much else happens. I don’t really remember much about New Moon, so clearly I didn’t enjoy that book very much. I didn’t realize at first it was mostly about Jacob, so I kept waiting for vampires to enter the story. I really decided in this book that I don’t like Bella, the main character, so that made it hard to want to keep reading the series. I don’t like how weak-willed she is, and how she keeps trying to pull Jacob in, knowing his feelings for her, while she’s sure she’s in love with Edward. It feels like she’s using him for her needs and completely ignoring his.

I made it to the third book, Eclipse, but this was the hardest book for me to read. Honestly, I don’t even remember what happened in this book, because all I kept thinking about was my hatred of Bella. I almost stopped reading the series here; I got so sick of “No I won’t let the people I love be hurt” but oh yeah, I’m not going to do anything to stop them but whine. Bella also still at this point can’t understand why Edward loves her, because she’s plain and he’s so beautiful…get over it and get some self-confidence! The guy (well, sort of) has had a century to find a woman and he found you – clearly that means something, yet she doesn’t accept that EVERY TIME HE TELLS HER. I get sick of her fishing for compliments (though the author doesn’t write it like Bella is fishing for compliments, that’s how I see it).

Finally, I made it to the final book, Breaking Dawn. This one was again fairly interesting – although things aren’t continuously happening, I didn’t find this book to drag like the previous two. It was interesting to meet all the new vampires, and I love the show of solidarity in the end; I absolutely love when people stand up for others for no reason other than that it’s the right thing to do. I also enjoyed that much of this book was told from Jacob’s perspective, saving me from Bella’s whiney thoughts.

Overall, my life would still have been complete if I’d never read these books. Sure, the first and last books were interesting (to a point), but I had to struggle to read the second and third books. I feel like I’ve wasted a bit of my life over the past week – there are so many things I could have been doing besides reading this series. If I never pick up another book by Stephanie Meyers, it’ll be too soon.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Lately I’ve become more interested in becoming more self-sufficient. Not only that, but I’m more interested in using/eating products that either have fewer chemicals/preservatives in them, and/or that I make at home so I know exactly what is in them. I’m not going all tree-hugger, but I am trying to put fewer chemicals in my body, and I’m interested in living a simpler life, hence the making things at home. That, plus I’m sick of being furloughed and losing 14% of my salary, so I'm trying to save money in creative ways.

This year, I’m starting a garden (though those of you who know me know about my black thumbs, so it’ll be interesting) in order to have fresh produce around the house. We just purchased a steer and a hog from a friend of Grant’s who raises livestock raised on his own, homemade, organic feed (this is a great arrangement until a few years down the road when we can move back to the country and raise our own animals). My friend’s mom sells eggs from her chickens, and we buy those when we can. I'm also going to take canning lessons from my friend's mom so I can learn to can things like tomatoes for salsa and spaghetti sauce, pickles, beans, etc. I was raised in the country, and I raised livestock, but we didn't do a lot of "homemade" things at our house - although my mom made some GREAT homemade pickles when I was a kid. Too bad she stopped...

I’ve also been reading a book called "Storey’s Basic Country Skills.” I bought this awhile ago to learn how to can foods, and have ended up learning so much more from it! It talks about finding your land in the country, planting gardens and fields of hay, raising livestock, making soap, and canning/storing your harvest, plus a lot more. I’ve also read a few articles on the “Simple Living Movement.” I’m not ready to dump all my possessions and move to a 100 sq. ft. cottage in the woods, but it has made me realize that I can spend more time doing things at home, instead of buying things in the store.

Case in point – I recently watched an episode of “18 Kids and Counting” (now “19 Kids and Counting”), a show that I’ve really begun to enjoy. In this episode, they made homemade laundry soap. It looked easy and inexpensive, and one batch of soap lasted their family (of 20 at the time) 2-3 months! Imagine how long this soap that costs under $2 to make would last my family of two!

So I found the recipe on the Duggar’s website, and did a little Googling. Turns out it’s a very popular recipe using Fels Naptha soap, washing soda, and borax. I had borax at home already, and I was pretty sure I could find the other ingredients easily enough, even though I’d never heard of them.

Turns out I was wrong.

However, after much running around town and almost purchasing the remaining ingredients online, I found everything I needed at Winco, of all places. (Note – once I found the soap, I told my mom about it, and she said Fels Naptha is what my dad uses for poison oak…in case any of you out there are as allergic to poison oak as my dad).

Anyway, I made the laundry soap and so far, I really like it. It has a pleasant smell, yet when the clothes come out of the washer, they just smell like clean clothes, rather than an overpowering perfume smell like some laundry detergents.

Here’s the recipe, along with a few pictures of my soap-making process.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1 bar Fels Naptha Soap
1 cup Washing Soda (I used Arm & Hammer)
½ cup borax

Grate the bar of soap ( I was going to use the grater on my KitchenAid, but ended up just grating it by hand, which was easier than I thought).

Melt the soap in a large saucepan with 4 cups water. When all the soap has dissolved, pour it into a clean 5-gallon bucket. Add the washing soda and borax, and stir until all the powder dissolves. Fill the bucket with hot water, then put a lid on the bucket and let it sit overnight.

(The liquid will become a gel after sitting overnight. I thought it would become a gel like a liquid laundry detergent, but mine became an almost solid gel. This may have been because I put it in my garage and temperatures overnight were in the 30’s to 40’s.)

Fill a smaller container (something with a lid – can be an old laundry detergent container that you’ve cleaned, a glass jar, etc.) with equal parts of the soap/gel and hot water. Shake well to combine (the total laundry soap from this recipe is 10 gallons; if you have two 5-gallon buckets you can add the extra water now, but I just mix half detergent and half water when I refill the smaller container).

Use 1 cup of the soap for each load of laundry. On the Duggar’s website it says if you have a front loading machine to use as little as ¼ cup (although this soap doesn’t get really sudsy, so I think you’re okay to use more than ¼ cup).

I made a note of the date I made the soap, and I’m excited to see how long it lasts me. Ten gallons of laundry soap for under $2!!

Here are some pictures from my laundry making process, although I forgot to take pictures of all the steps:

This is the bar of soap that you grate and melt. It cost $1.26/bar at Winco.

After I dissolved the grated soap in water and mixed it with the powders, I filled the bucket with hot water. I stirred it some more, and this was what my bucket looked like before I put the lid on.

Okay, so I forgot to take pictures of lots of the steps. But at least I took a couple!

Update on the 50 Book Challenge

I started January off very slow, but am proud to say it feels like I've been doing nothing but reading lately, and I'm making a (sort of) impressive dent in my 50 book challenge.

Here are the books I've read so far:

1. Two for the Dough
2. Three to Get Deadly
3. High Five
4. Ten Big Ones
5. Four to Score
6. Belly Laughs
7. Twilight
8. New Moon

(Note - the # books are all in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.)

Now I know - none of those are exactly tough reads. I needed some light material to get me back into the reading groove. I'll keep you guys updated periodically on my reading progress.

I have some news...

Those of you who follow me on Facebook now know my secret – I do indeed have a bun in the oven! I’m pretty excited, and it’s been all I’ve wanted to write about…hence my scarcity in Blog Land for the last 10 weeks.

I have to say, pregnancy so far is pretty boring. I don’t know about the rest of you, but until my first dr’s appointment three weeks ago, I didn’t even believe I was really pregnant (even though three separate home pregnancy tests told me otherwise…and actually it still doesn’t really feel “real”). I haven’t been sick (thank GOD), I do have to pee more often but I’ve been drinking more water, and I’m worn out all the time, but I’m not completely exhausted when I get home every day. So for myself, before I told the rest of the world, I needed the dr to confirm that yes, there really was a baby in there (just one, thank goodness), and yes, everything was okay.

Even after the dr confirmed the pregnancy, and I had my own little sonogram picture to carry with me, I still didn’t want to tell everyone. When I first found out, those first few days, I wanted to tell everyone – my friends, my family, the woman behind me in line at the grocery store. However, the longer I waited, the more I wanted to wait; it was nice to have our own little secret. Plus it became sort of a game to me, to see how long I could wait before telling everyone.

Well, the secret’s out. Not only does everyone on Facebook know, but I finally told everyone at work today as well. And let me tell you, my coworkers are not quiet, nor are they shy. I think everyone in the vicinity of our cubicles knows – but that does save me the trouble of telling the rest of the office.

I’m sure as time goes by I’m going to be blogging about pregnancy a lot more. I hope you guys don’t mind. Those of you who’ve had babies will feel my pain/joy/excitement, and those of you who haven’t, well, I hope I can share something with you that you didn’t know. I read Jenny McCarthy’s book “Belly Laughs” this weekend, and I appreciated her openness – although there are a few things I wish I still didn’t know.